


Painted Histories

by Beauteousmajesty



Series: On discovery [9]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Grief, M/M, Mourning, None of my Nordics are cishet, Painting, Victorian Opulence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 07:31:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18566770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beauteousmajesty/pseuds/Beauteousmajesty
Summary: Over the course of history, art has been made of all of the nations. When humanity discovers it, it poses more questions than it answers.





	Painted Histories

**Author's Note:**

> So here’s another incoherent mess, but I told someone ages ago that I was writing it so I felt duty bound to try and finish it.

When the Europeans went digging through old castle galleries and portrait collections, they found portraits of Nations. Some historians had pieced together similar faces before the discovery, in attempts to trace genealogy. Some conspiracy theorists had pieced the similar faces together as immortals.

Portraits were propaganda, military successes and national histories were painted besides the models. When the portraits were gradually uncovered, some Nations were discovered to hold niches in art style. Prussia often posed in full battle armour, decorated and honoured by his kings, glittering with military brilliance.

England’s portraits held details of naval conquest, and colonial glory, the elder Nation stood with smaller, conquered nations around him. It was art sponsored by an empire.

Some portraits were never found, they were burned in revolutions or destroyed in the carnage of modern wars. Limited portraits existed of nations whose collections had been destroyed. If images were to be found, they were to be found with friends, England’s halls sometimes bore France’s face and Austria guarded Hungary.

There were portraits for historic events, Austria and Hungary had posed in honour of their wedding, yielding an enormous portrait that lived under a sheet in a storeroom in an Austrian castle. It was discovered by delighted historians seeking to document the lives of the two Nations.

Art galleries formed Nation collections of artwork that had previously been deemed worthless. News articles relished in the opportunity to document newly uncovered artworks as art historians raced to unpack the symbolism encased within each portrait.

Most of the portraits of Norway were discovered in Denmark, carefully stored in castles and cellars. Only one picture of Norway was found in Sweden, a large, lavish wedding portrait, with Sweden in the centre, and Norway to the side, acting as an ornament rather than a focus of the painting.

The painting was clearly created with Swedish interest, the nation dressed in military colours that glittered with medals and golden tassels. Multiple Swedish flags hung in the backdrop, the portrait flooded with blue and gold.

Norway, too, was bedecked in blue and gold, all links to the red and white of Denmark torn away. In its place, the nation’s appearance had been masked by a heavy wig, with elaborately styled blond curls falling gently over the regency styled dress that had been painted in with more detail than the nation’s face, the artist being keen to demonstrate Swedish wealth rather than Norwegian discontent.

Art historians had previously noted that the dynamics between the models were strange for a newly married couple, strong hands held the other party in place, and the bride looked away. The artist had attempted to paint love into the scene, but had failed.

Whilst the picture was evidently Sweden, only the date at the bottom allowed for the identification of Norway. The Nation had been painted with little regard for facial features and cloaked in heavy and regal fabrics.

This cold opulence completely juxtaposed artwork discovered of Denmark and Norway, the pair appearing together on tapestries and porcelain, portraiture and sculpture. This vast quantity of appearances spanned hundreds of years of smiles, represented by different hands.

These Dano-Norwegian artworks held little of the quality of the Swedish portrait, which had been created by a professional portrait artist, rather than by the hands of friends and students. Among the many works, a pair of signatures reoccurred, scrawled at the bottom of portraits. One of the signatures was recognised by art historians as that of an unknown artist whose landscapes hung in a few private Danish galleries.

This unknown artist’s works focused on people as well as nations, unknown figures appearing next to Nordic faces. Many of the paintings discovered were domestic in nature, children playing and food being prepared.

To the joy of the wider world, a painting was found by this artist depicting Norway and Iceland playing musical instruments. Which people quickly noted to parallel one of Denmark’s earliest Instagram posts.

Within the portraits the same group of children appeared again and again, never aging, merely playing in costumes from different times.

These children became a point of questioning for the world, although nobody turned to Denmark and asked. Theories abounded about the identities of the children. They only began to be resolved when the youngest of the painted children was seen in Tromsø, Norway, walking with the older Nation, solidifying ideas of their Nation state.

The Little Nation appeared only six or seven years old, holding onto Norway’s hand as they made their way through the quiet streets. Once they reached busier roads, the small nation huddled noticeably closer to Norway, no longer straying as wide as their joined arms would allow, seeming shocked at the volumes of people and vehicles in the street.

As the child hid close to Norway, the elder nation quickly bent down and lifted up the child before disappearing into a government building across the road. Pictures made their way across the Internet like wildfire.

The next child, looking around the age of twelve, was spotted in Denmark, walking in Copenhagen with the tall Nation. The pair seemed to be in an avid discussion but the Danes around them couldn’t understand any of the snippets of conversation that they heard (other Scandinavians online claimed that this lack of comprehension was just a feature of the Danish language). They stopped in a park, lingering by a lake, before disappearing towards the port.

The eldest of the children spotted was seen with Iceland, the two teenagers were out in Reykjavik. The unknown Nation was slightly younger than the Icelander, whose own age remained unknown. Whilst the unknown nation was taller than Iceland, that wasn’t difficult considering the Nation’s landmass and youth. The pair spent an afternoon in a public library, flicking through old books.

There was a final painted child in the Danish portraits that nobody ever saw. A tiny pale child, whose facial features seemed to change between paintings as if the artist was painting from memory or description. Theories abounded as to who this Nation could be, but without even knowing the identities of the other children, no headway could be made.

In a Danish cellar, packed neatly behind other precious items stored away, a new portrait was found. It bore a new signature, one not seen before in the other Danish paintings.

The painting was nearly an ordinary family portrait, two adults, children, elaborate clothing, dark background, a ghost and an empty cradle. None of the painted children, not even the ghost, looked young enough for the cradle.

The pair of adults, clad in stately black, seated among the children were noticeably Norway and Denmark, straight faced and serious. At their feet sat four children: a young Iceland, and the three unknown Nations. The ghost had been painted reaching out to the scene as if with longing, almost lost in the darkness of the background.

The cradle was empty, two children had been lost, art historians claimed. The Nations in question didn’t comment. To be fair to them, they were never asked, the subject was swept away from official questions as taboo.

It was decided that Denmark was their mystery artist, however, when Norway posted a picture of Denmark leaning over a half-finished painting, paintbrush in hand, to his Instagram account. From what could be made out, it seemed that Denmark was painting a fjord with a boat in, but that meant very little to the wider world. Norway’s caption however, shed new light onto the landscape paintings, being only the phrase ‘he’s painting me again’ as people were still struggling to marry together Nation and landscape as one entity.

When art historians returned to the landscapes in the galleries, they noticed that they were a mixture of Nordic scenes, vast fjords and soaring mountains as well as cabins and cityscapes. Communities came forwards to try and pinpoint locations. When they did so, it was found that the paintings stretched across all of the Nordic regions, from Svalbard’s winter ice to the bright lights of Copenhagen.

It made a curious exhibition in the end. Opulent portraits, student sketches, landscapes all displayed together. All of the pieces drawing their unity from their subjects, even though some of them seemed destined to always remain a mystery. The exhibition was a merging of history and mystery and the museum staff were sure that they’d seen Denmark visit it, sneaking quietly through the small visiting crowd and smiling at the art displayed around.


End file.
